http://www.northjersey.com/news/Muslim_leaders_summoned_to_NJ_meeting_on_NYPD_surveillance_.html

Muslim leaders summoned to meeting with NJ attorney general

MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY MAY 21, 2012, 6:36 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Muslim leaders say they have been invited to a meeting Thursday with the state attorney general in Trenton for an update on a possible investigation into New York Police Department surveillance operations.

Muslim leaders have demanded that state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa investigate NYPD activities in New Jersey since news of surveillance broke. A spokesman in Chiesa’s office said Monday “we have no comment.”

The NYPD surveillance program targeted Muslims at businesses, universities and mosques, including one in Paterson and several in Newark, as well as student groups at 16 Northeast colleges, including Rutgers University.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Police Department have defended the spying program — first detailed in a series of articles by The Associated Press — as lawful and necessary.

Some civic and religious groups and lawmakers, though, have blasted the surveillance as a violation of civil rights and have called for an investigation.

Top law-enforcement officials in New Jersey met with Muslim leaders in Trenton on March 3 to address concerns and told them fact finding was under way to determine whether to launch an official investigation.